Wait! There is more!

Hmmmm. 
There was a story in the Columbus Dispatch about State Sen. Chris Widener and his connections to a project in his district. This is from my post at StubbornLiberal on 12/28/12:

The Republican-loving Columbus Dispatch has come out against an Ohio elected official--- State Senator Chris Widener, a Republican. 

Columbus Dispatch:

Sen. Chris Widener wields great power at the Statehouse, where he is supposed to use his position to better the interests of his constituents — not, as appears to be the case, to bail out his associates. Or himself.

The Springfield Republican, set to be the Senate's No. 2 leader, says he did nothing wrong in 2009 when he sponsored a bill that authorized a financially troubled livestock-exposition center to levy a special tax to bail itself out of financial difficulties.....

Never mind that he helped found the nonprofit association that built the center.....

....Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien said he's discussing the situation with the state legislative inspector general.....


Now Chris Widener has ties to another project in Clark County, which is in his district------DaytonDailyNews:


An Ohio agency with enormous power over where and how public schools are designed, renovated and built is questioning the viability of a plan to establish a STEM academy in Springfield using $4.5 million in state funds.....

...Over the past decade, Clark County’s population has slipped 4.4 percent and Springfield City Schools enrollment dropped 22.4 percent to 7,359 in 2011-12, down from 9,483 in 2002-03. Demographers predict that the enrollment and population numbers for the area will continue to slide.

Questionable building decisions over the past decade have heightened concerns at the OFCC about overbuilding classroom space. As the Daily News reported in 2011, overly optimistic enrollment projections in Springfield and in the nearby Tecumseh Local School district forced those school systems to “repurpose” newly built school buildings; Trotwood-Madison Schools shut down two newly built elementary schools.....

Why is money going to a new start up program in a county losing population? If there is such a need for a program, it would be more cost effective to add more instructors, courses, and support to already existing schools in the schools. From the perspective of a taxpayer, it appears that Mr. Chris Widener is bringing pet projects to his district with our dollars, while our public schools continue to have drastic cuts to their budgets.

>>> Oh, and what is this from the Youngstown Vindicator????

Vindy:

Gov. John Kasich’s proposal to “leverage” the value of the 241-mile Ohio Turnpike to jump-start highway and bridge construction spending across the state boils down to a massive borrowing plan.

By having the bonds issued by what is essentially an independent entity, the state is able to borrow about $1.5 billion it otherwise could not.

The move allows the state to sidestep its own constitutional debt cap as well as a narrower limit on separate highway borrowing backed exclusively by gas tax revenue....

Do you feel comfortable with this?